ViewRanger launches V4.0 Android update with all-new user interface

Android-users of the award winning GPS-adventure app and trail-guide publishing platform ViewRanger are set to benefit from a major update of the app’s software.

Viewranger version 4.0 (V4.0) – which is available free from Google Play – sees user experience improved; advanced active navigation, access to trail guides from across the world and the ability to record and share location-based adventure content online are now just a finger-swipe away.

Over the last 14 months, the company has gathered feedback from its global user community who range from occasional walkers through to cycling enthusiasts and mountain rescue teams. The result is an app completely re-designed and optimised for use on-the-go.

V4.0 allows advanced users to set up their own gesture-based shortcuts which are particularly useful for cold nights or simply when cycling with a phone mounted on the forearm or handlebars.

Craig Wareham, CEO of Augmentra, the company behind ViewRanger, is proud of the developments: “ViewRanger is a map, navigation and guidebook app. It provides a platform for publishing and sharing media-rich, interactive trail guides. The new user interface makes it easier to create, navigate and share your outdoor adventures.”

Building on its trusted reputation for outdoor navigation, ViewRanger V4.0 brings outdoor pursuits and social sharing closer together. It is now easier to access new content from the hundreds of branded publishers which use the ViewRanger platform and simpler for individuals to record and share their own adventures. This includes media integration with services such as Twitter and Flickr.

ViewRanger has become the map and navigation app of choice for many search and rescue teams and even several explorers.

“This wasn’t about adding frills just for the sake of it”, says Craig. “ViewRanger is about real usage. The app has been used to explore on every continent, including Antarctica, and over 100 emergency search and rescue teams use it for navigation, so the key features have to be accessed quickly and people have to be able to trust it.”

The app’s companion website myViewranger.com is already an established social media platform for outdoor enthusiasts. It allows route plotting, recorded GPS track analysis and map printing from a larger desktop screen.

The UX update makes it easier to sync route guides and recorded GPS tracks between the mobile app and the MyViewranger website, but it also builds further on these capabilities, allowing users to view, comment and ‘like’ the adventures of friends via the app.

The ViewRanger app surpassed one million installs at the end of 2012 and it is increasingly recognised as an innovative platform for all those who participate in, or contribute to, outdoors recreational activities.

The latest version of the app is free to download from Google Play immediately and comes with all of its functionality as well as free access to open source mapping and thousands of free trail guides. Once installed users are then able to purchase premium content such as topographical mapping and premium trail guides.

Key features of the update are as follows:

New home menu, accessed by swiping from the right of the screen

New design for map screen and map menus

Speed or distance viewable whilst on the map.

All-new trip view for recording tracks, with further configurable trip statistics accessible by swiping from right of screen.